Eurofighter Typhoon DA1

DA1 was the first of the seven Development Aircraft with which the consortium took the Eurofighter to production maturity. Built by DASA, it first flew on 27 March 1994 with test pilot Peter Weger at the controls, using the Phase 0 flight control software. Nine test flights were completed by June 1994, after which the aircraft was grounded to update its flight control system to Phase 2; flying resumed on 18 September 1995. A German Air Force pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Heinz Spolgen, flew it for the first time in March 1996, allowing the military evaluation to be closed on 24 April 1996. The aircraft was then fitted with EJ200 series 03Z engines, its avionics were brought up to the STANAG 3910 standard and a Martin-Baker Mk.16 ejection seat was installed, work that ran until November 1998. Test flying restarted in the third quarter of 1999 and continued until 11 September 2000. A further flight control system update followed, along with a two-week test series on the North Sea ACMI range with Jagdbombergeschwader 38 on 3 July 2001 and a buddy-buddy air-to-air refuelling with a Panavia Tornado in August 2001. From 8 April 2003 DA1 was deployed to Spain as a replacement for the lost DA6. On 27 August 2003 it became the first Eurofighter to fly with the IRIS-T missile, and it subsequently supported direct voice input trials. Data gathering to refine the flight control laws continued until October 2004, and the last flight took place on 21 December 2005. The airframe is displayed at the Deutsches Museum in Oberschleissheim, next to the Rockwell-MBB X-31.